Jupiter dominates the Evening Sky & Dazzling Venus the Morning Sky

Jupiter continues to dominate the evening sky. Based on the comments left on this blog, many people have been noticing Jupiter in the southeast sky during the evening. At magnitude -2.8, Jupiter is ~13 times brighter than the brightest stars in the sky this month. Of all the planets, only Venus, and on very rare occasions Mars, are brighter.



Venus is the brightest “star” in the sky a hour or so before dawn. It was at its highest in the morning sky last month but now begins its slow crawl lower though it will remain an easy object for early risers  over the next 2-3 months. For binocular and telescope users, Venus will appear nearly full and is much smaller than it appeared this spring (now 12″ across versus 50″ last spring).